Surprising win in the individual competition in Zakopane

AUTHOR: Dominika Bączek PUBLISHED AT: 28-01-2018

After the amazing performance of the Polish team in the team competition everybody was waiting for the same good results to be made in the individual event. But at Sunday the most important role was played by the wind. Thousands of supporters at the facility and much more in front of their TV screens couldn’t rejoice of the Polish podium. Weather conditions were unstable which affected the most Kamil Stoch who ended the competition after the first round.

After Kamil Stoch’s jump in the first round of the individual event Wielka Krokiew was silent. The leader of Polishh team didn’t manage to jump till 110 meters and for the first time in this season did not jump in the final round. He was late at the take off and really unlucky with the weather conditions. After that everybody at the facility kept their fingers crossed for Stefan Hula. His shape has been really stable recently. Actual winner of Polish Championship ended the first round at the first position with a jump of 132 meters long. He was 0.8 points in front of a young ski jumper from Norway – Marius Lindvik. Wielka Krowiew suited him very well during this weekend. At the virtual third step of the podium stood Simon Ammann. Yesterday he lost the hill record in favour of Kamil Stoch.

The podium has changed in the final round of the competition. The weather conditions got better what made ski jumpers jump longer. When it comes to the Polish athletes, only two of them improved their positions. Thanks to a jump of 139.5 meters long, Dawid Kubacki ended at 7th position. It was the second longest jump in the final round. Only Junshiro Kobayashi jumped 0.5 of meter further. Also a second jump of Maciej Kot was better (136.5 meters). Unfortunately the position of other Polish athletes worsen – with a jump of 113 meters Tomasz Pilch ended at 30th place and Piotr Żyła was finally 28th. Everybody waited the most for Stefan Hula’s performance. Unfortunately 129.5 meters weren’t enough to be on the podium. Eventually it was Anze Semenic, 5th after the first round, who won the individual competition. It was the first World Cup win for this young Slovenian ski jumper. Second place went to Andreas Wellinger and another Slovenian athlete Peter Prevc stood at the third step of the podium.

Even though there was no Polish ski jumper at the podium in the individual competition, everybody will remember the historical win in the team event and the amazing atmosphere made by the Polish supporters. Competitions in Zakopane have been in the top of the World Cup events for ages. The organizers again prepared for us an amazing show.